The following outline is provided as an overview and topical guide to space science:
Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics,physics,and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets,moons,stars,nebulae,galaxies,meteoroid,asteroid,and comets. Relevant phenomena include supernova explosions,gamma ray bursts,quasars,blazars,pulsars,and cosmic microwave background radiation. More generally,astronomy studies everything that originates beyond Earth's atmosphere. Cosmology is a branch of astronomy that studies the universe as a whole.
Astrochemistry is the study of the abundance and reactions of molecules in the universe,and their interaction with radiation. The discipline is an overlap of astronomy and chemistry. The word "astrochemistry" may be applied to both the Solar System and the interstellar medium. The study of the abundance of elements and isotope ratios in Solar System objects,such as meteorites,is also called cosmochemistry,while the study of interstellar atoms and molecules and their interaction with radiation is sometimes called molecular astrophysics. The formation,atomic and chemical composition,evolution and fate of molecular gas clouds is of special interest,because it is from these clouds that solar systems form.
Prof Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn FRS FRSE LLD was a Dutch astronomer. He carried out extensive studies of the Milky Way and was the discoverer of evidence for galactic rotation. Kapteyn was also among the first to suggest the existence of dark matter using stellar velocities as early as 1922.
Marc Aaronson was an American astronomer.
Jan Hendrik Oort was a Dutch astronomer who made significant contributions to the understanding of the Milky Way and who was a pioneer in the field of radio astronomy. The New York Times called him "one of the century's foremost explorers of the universe";the European Space Agency website describes him as "one of the greatest astronomers of the 20th century" and states that he "revolutionised astronomy through his ground-breaking discoveries." In 1955,Oort's name appeared in Life magazine's list of the 100 most famous living people. He has been described as "putting the Netherlands in the forefront of postwar astronomy."
Anton M.J. "Tom" Gehrels was a Dutch–American astronomer,Professor of Planetary Sciences,and Astronomer at the University of Arizona,Tucson.
Hendrik Christoffel "Henk" van de Hulst was a Dutch astronomer.
Donald Lynden-Bell CBE FRS was a British theoretical astrophysicist. He was the first to determine that galaxies contain supermassive black holes at their centres,and that such black holes power quasars. Lynden-Bell was President of the Royal Astronomical Society (1985–1987) and received numerous awards for his work,including the inaugural Kavli Prize for Astrophysics. He worked at the University of Cambridge for his entire career,where he was the first director of its Institute of Astronomy.
Venkataraman Radhakrishnan was an Indian space scientist and member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. He retired from his career as professor emeritus of the Raman Research Institute in Bangalore,India,of which he had previously been director from 1972 to 1994 and which is named after his father. He served on various committees in various capacities including as the vice president of the International Astronomical Union during 1988–1994. He was also a Foreign Fellow of both the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. He was an Associate of the Royal Astronomical Society and a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences,Bangalore.
Gerrit Pels was a Dutch astronomer,a lifelong member of the scientific staff of the Leiden Observatory.
Ewine Fleur van Dishoeck is a Dutch astronomer and chemist. She is Professor of Molecular Astrophysics at Leiden Observatory,and served as the President of the International Astronomical Union (2018–2021) and a co-editor of the Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics (2012–present). She is one of the pioneers of astrochemistry,and her research is aimed at determination of the structure of cosmic objects using their molecular spectra.
Vytautas Straižys was a Lithuanian astronomer. In 1963–65 he and his collaborators created and developed the Vilnius photometric system,a seven-color intermediate band system,optimized for photometric stellar classification. In 1996 he was elected a Corresponding Member of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences. Straižys was an editor of the journal Baltic Astronomy. He spent a lot of time working at the Molėtai Astronomical Observatory. Asteroid 68730 Straizys in 2002 was named after him.
Cornelis Dirk (Cees) Andriesse is a Dutch physicist,writer and historian of science. Internationally he is best known for his scientific biography of Christiaan Huygens.
Tjeerd Sicco van Albada is a Dutch astronomer and emeritus professor of Astronomy at the University of Groningen.
Jan Borgman was a Dutch astronomer and university administrator. He was professor of astronomical observation technique at the University of Groningen from 1968 to 1988. During this period he served as rector magnificus from 1978 to 1981 and chair of the board of governors from 1981 to 1988. Borgman subsequently became chairperson of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research.
Stuart Pottasch was a professor at the University of Groningen and a researcher of planetary nebulae.
Amina Helmi is an Argentine astronomer and professor at the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.
Nikolaos Kylafis is a Greek Theoretical Astrophysicist,who is professor emeritus at the Department of Physics of the University of Crete,Greece.
